The Minister of Mines and Steel Development, Mrs. Diezani Alison-Madueke, on Sunday, in Beijing, said the Federal Government had approved a three-year tax holiday for new mining companies as part of incentives to attract investments to the sector.

At an investment forum, Alison-Madueke said the tax holiday was to enable the companies to stabilise for three years before “they start paying tax, beginning with the accumulated three-year tax.’’

The minister, who described the Nigerian solid minerals sector as a virgin territory, listed other new investment-friendly legislations and policies to include the reduction of company tax from 35 to 30 per cent and capital gain tax from 20 to 10 per cent.

Other incentives are exemption from payment of import duty in respect of mining-related plant, machinery and equipment as well as remittance of foreign capital in the event of sale or liquidation of mining operations.

Alison-Madueke added that the government had put in place institutional and policy changes to reposition the sector, noting the change from “Owner-Operator to Administrative-Regulator’’ and the strengthening of the ministry’s agencies to carry out their mandate.

She added that the ministry, in collaboration with other agencies, was developing a one-stop shop “as a strong response to investors’ complaints on bureaucratic delays. “In a remarks, Mr. Craig Bond, the Chief Executive Officer of Standard Bank, the organisers of the forum, said the bank would collaborate with its sister-company, Nigeria’s Stanbic IBTC Bank, to offer project finance and technical skills to businessmen willing to invest in Nigeria.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) noted that forum was attended by no fewer than 50 Chinese companies.